warriorlibrarian.com Blog

Elizabeth Kostova’s fine work (Time Warner, 704 pages) was a surprise in many ways, not least of all for the accolades implied in the descriptions and coverage of the services provided by libraries, and how effective and efficient librarians are.

Almost a ‘gothic thriller’ – not my favorite genre, generally speaking – Kostova’s description of the research process would indicate an intimate personal familiarity with the methodology.

This isn’t a book for the squeamish, though. And the librarian who falls under the influence of the Dark Side reminds me more than a little of a colleague from my own past. That aside, for those who enjoy enforced persistence in space and time jumps (again not me, usually) this one will be a challenge in maintaining plot cohesion.

Shelve below adult eye level.

If you liked Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, there’s a good chance you’ll also enjoy John Fasman’s The Geographer’s Library (Penguin, 547pp). Heck, even if you didn’t like Da Vinci, you might still enjoy this one.

The Times Literary Supplement says “highly entertaining … keeps the reader guessing”, at least according to the blurb on the back cover. And they’re not going to make something like that up, are they?

Found the writing a little heavy at times, but the plot makes the effort worth while. Unfortunately though for library professionals, there isn’t a lot of information regarding the classification scheme used in the protagonist’s personal book collection, nor no mention of any policies or procedural documentation, so I guess that the term ‘library’ may be being used a little too freely here. But it’s definitely a good read. Shelve this one at eye level.

Interesting report in SMH about Seattle’s Nancy coming back for the Sydney Writers’ Festival, making it her second appearance in two years.  When asked which book she would recommend for an “All Sydney reads …” exercise, she recommended Thomas Berger’s Little Big Man, a novel about the American West.  You’d think after already having travelled here once, to the other side of the planet, she’d realise that Australia isn’t actually part of the USA.  Or maybe she thought that the Ozzie accent was due to being VERY deep south?

But that’s not actually fair - I’m just being sniffy because no one was interested in producing a Warrior Librarian action figure.  Pearl actually showed a quite reasonable knowledge of Australian popular literature … considering she’s from the Very Far North Queensland village of Seattle.

So your average punter has spent a good hour or so searching the stacks for enough brain fodder to keep them going for a week or so.  Where the heck are they going to find the right ambience to do their reading.  Sure, there’s always the good old bedroom, late at night - when something of the heft of a 10-foot bargepole is needed to keep the eyelids open.  But where does one find such a reading aid, let alone instructions for using it?

Of course, there’s those lucky enough to use a ‘commute’ to work - ideal place to read? Not.  At least the Poms have cell phone-free rail carriages - but what about the rest of the semi-civilised world?  Even if the moron next to you on the train isn’t jabbering on inanely and incessantly about some great new love of his/her life, there’s the choom-choom-choom of personal (!) music systems to contend with.

Despite having so far resisted the urge to carry wire cutters or small nail scissors to further personalise a listening experience - by a little subtle snipping of earphone wires, nothing involving the actual spilling of blood, you understand - there are days when there is  clearly a need for Noise Police on public transport.

Sure, there are Transit Police, largely responsible it seems for ensuring the continued existence of railway coffee shops; the ubiquitous Ticket Inspectors  that protect the state’s fragile economy, adding to the billions of dollars surplus the government isn’t keen to actually part with;  not to mention our fine, though stretched, ‘mainstream’ Police Service.  But who is going to conserve a potential reading environment for those library users attempting to maximise the use of their travel time?  Commuting librarians with nail scissors?

The US Department of Education’s E.R.I.C. (Education Resource Information Center) has included the (irreverent) Warrior Librarian Guide to Library Assessment (“Strikeback”) in its database. Probably because it was published in the august journal LMC … although under the banner of satire.

And I’d always thought that The Suits didn’t have a sense of humor.